2021 Public Records Reporting

The metrics on this page relate to the amount of time agencies spent responding to public records requests in 2021.

State law requires agencies to respond to public records requests within five days

Agencies may respond to a request in the following ways:

• Acknowledge receipt and provide an estimated time frame for providing records.
• Provide the requested records.
• Ask the requester to clarify the request.

• Deny the request because there are no records or there is an exemption from disclosure.

A request is considered closed when the agency does one of the following:

• Provides the requested records by:
  • Delivering or sending records to the requester.
  • Making records available for on-site review, for pickup, or upon payment.
• Informs the requester that the agency does not have the requested records.
• Informs the requester that the records are exempt from disclosure.

The date of final disposition is the date the agency finishes providing records, if any, and the request is closed.

Exhibit C1: Agencies closed 185,196 requests within five days

Number of requests where the agency provided the requested records within five days (Metric 1)

State law requires agencies to respond to public records requests within five days. Collectively, cities and towns closed the most requests within five days, at 76,829 requests. The Legislature closed the fewest requests within five days, at 116 requests (out of 368 total requests received). Department of Licensing closed the most requests within five days of any single agency, at 10,391 requests (out of 20,293 total requests received).

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

Exhibit C2: Agencies estimated it would take more than five days to respond for 173,940 records requests

Number of requests where the agency provided a time estimate for providing records beyond five days after receiving the request (Metric 2)

Collectively, cities and towns provided the most estimates, at 50,305 requests. State agencies, commissions, and boards provided estimates for 50,226 requests. The Legislature provided the fewest estimates, at 252 requests (out of 368 total requests received). South Sound 911 provided the most estimates for a single entity, at 33,164 requests (out of 33,164 total requests received).

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

Exhibit C3: Agencies closed records requests in an average of 20 days. The median time to close was five days.

Average and median number of days from receipt to final disposition of a request (Metric 3)

Agencies reported that large requests may affect the average number of days between receiving and closing a records request. Statewide, the average number of days to final disposition was 20 days. Statewide, the median number of days to final disposition was five days. Cities and towns reported the shortest response time, with an average of ten days and a median of three days to final disposition. The Legislature reported the longest response time, with an average of 53 days and a median of 26 days to final disposition.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

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The metrics on this page relate to the number of record request clarifications, denials, and abandonments.

• Clarification means the agency formally asked the requester to provide clarifying information about the request.
• Denial means the agency did not provide complete records to the requester or redacted records per an exemption under Chapter 42.56 RCW.
  • Fully denied means the agency withheld all records from the requester.
  • Partially denied means the agency withheld some records from the requester.
  • Redacted means the agency obscured part of a record before providing it to the requester.
• Abandonment means the requester withdrew the request or failed to follow request procedures.

Exhibit D1: 23,870 requests (7%) required clarification

Number of records requests where the agency sought clarification from the requester (Metric 4)

Agencies reported the number of requests needing clarification, not the number of times a request was clarified. For example, one request with five different clarifications is counted once. Statewide, 23,870 requests required clarification. 8,629 (7%) requests to cities and towns required clarification. 254 (11%) requests to higher education institutions required clarification. 25 requests (7%) to the Legislature required clarification. Seattle reported the most requests that required clarification, at 1,545 (10%) requests. 16 agencies reported that no requests required clarification.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

Exhibit D2: 8,275 requests (2%) were fully denied, and 81,985 requests (23%) were partially denied or redacted

Number of records requests denied and common reasons (Metric 5)

Fully denied requests 8,275 (2%) requests were fully denied. Local governments accounted for 43% of the fully denied requests. Longview reported the most requests fully denied, at 1,089 requests (13% of the fully denied requests). 69 agencies reported that no requests were fully denied. Partially denied requests 81,985 (23%) requests were partially denied. Cities and towns accounted for 38% of partially denied requests. South Sound 911 reported the most requests partially denied, at 8,762 requests (11% of partially denied requests). 28 agencies reported that no requests were partially denied.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

Exhibit D3: Requesters abandoned 16,575 requests (5%)

Number of abandoned records requests (Metric 6)

17,549 (5%) requests were abandoned by requesters. Seattle reported the largest number of abandoned requests, at 4,561 requests. 36 agencies reported that no requests were abandoned by requesters. 42% of abandoned requests were made to cities and towns.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

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The metrics on this page relate to the way an agency provides records to a requester. Agencies can provide public records in electronic format or in printed format. These metrics include information about electronic and physical records and if records are scanned to fulfill a request.

• Electronic records include email, memory sticks, CDs, file transfer sites, links to online documents, and more.
• Physical records include paper documents, books, photographs, and other non-electronic records.
• Scanning converts physical records to an electronic form.

Exhibit E1: 257,074 requests (74%) were fulfilled electronically

Percentage of records requests fulfilled electronically and physically (Metric 8)

257,074 (74%) requests were fulfilled with only electronic records. 17,319 (5%) requests were fulfilled with only physical records. 4,258 (1%) requests were fulfilled with a combination of physical and electronic records. 69,581 (20%) requests were closed because the agency did not have responsive records.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

Exhibit E2: 56,408 requests (16%) required agencies to scan physical records

Number of records requests involving scanning (Metric 9)

56,408 requests (16%) required agencies to scan physical records. Washington State Patrol reported the most requests requiring scanning, at 11,490 requests. 33 agencies reported that no requests required scanning. On average, each agency received 262 requests that required scanning of physical records.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

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The metrics on this page relate to the staff time and costs associated with responding to records requests and managing public records. All data reported to JLARC for these metrics are estimates, per statuteRCW 40.14.026.

Time and cost estimates reflect estimates for the 215 agencies that reported performance metric data. Estimates do not include costs for the 520 agencies that indicated they were below the $100,000 expenditure threshold, nor the 1,717 agencies that did not provide information.

Time and cost estimates reflect activities between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021.

Agencies used various approaches to calculate costs. JLARC staff advised agencies to avoid double counting time and costs by separating the resources used to respond to requests from the resources used to manage records.

Agencies reported challenges estimating the time and cost of responding to public records requests

Agencies have different internal processes for estimating the staff time spent responding to public records requests. For example, some agencies assign a difficulty level to each request (e.g., easy, average, difficult) and assign each level a corresponding amount of time spent. Others work with staff to gather actual time spent.

Agencies reported challenges estimating staff time for positions that are not designated as public records staff. For example, employees who are not typically involved in fulfilling public records requests may spend time looking for records on a specific request.

Agencies reported challenges in estimating the costs for managing records

Agencies indicated a number of challenges in estimating costs for managing public records, such as:

• Including staff training costs.
• Including overhead estimates.
• Differentiating response costs from management costs.
• Calculating costs for staff whose primary job is not records management.
• Calculating costs for software that is used for managing records and for other purposes.

Exhibit F1: Agencies spent 1.3 million staff hours responding to public records requests

Average staff hours spent responding to records requests (Metric 10)

Averages may not always reflect a typical records request. Agencies spent an average of 6,133 hours responding to records requests. The statewide average is 3.4 hours per request. Seattle reported the most estimated staff hours, at 121,354 hours. Four agencies reported an estimated one staff hour spent responding to requests. School districts reported the most staff time spent per request, with an average of 12.7 hours per request. Special districts reported the least time spent, with an average of 1.0 hour per request.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

Exhibit F2: Agencies spent $100 million fulfilling records requests

Cost of fulfilling records requests (Metric 11)

The total estimated cost to agencies in 2021 was $100 million. The average cost per agency was $464,843. The average cost per request was $261. Department of Children, Youth and Families reported the largest total estimated cost, at $15,454,411. Eight agencies reported no estimated costs.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

Exhibit F3: Agencies spent $192 million managing and retaining public records

Costs of managing and retaining records (Metric 14)

The average cost per agency was $895,206. Health Care Authority reported the highest costs, at $36,880,380. Thirteen agencies reported no estimated costs.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

Exhibit F4: Agencies reported $194,480 in total recovered expenses associated with responding to records requests

Expenses recovered (Metric 15)

Agencies may collect fees or payment from requesters to cover expenses incurred in responding to a records request. State agencies, boards, or commissions reported the most expenses recovered, at $77,821 (40% of total costs recovered). On average, each agency recovered $905, or about $0.54 per request. The Department of Ecology reported the most expenses recovered, at $13,989. Three agencies reported that they recovered less than $20.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

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The metrics on this page relate to court claims alleging that the agency violated the Public Records Act (Chapter 42.56 RCW) or other public records statutes. Data reported for this metric include the number of claims filed and costs incurred by the agency. Data does not include information about the total number of claims settled during the reporting period.

Agencies reported a total of 133 court claims filed in 2021 alleging that an agency violated Chapter 42.56 RCW. Agencies reported spending $7.2 million on litigation costs. Costs may include:

• Estimates of agency staff time incurred while responding to litigation (e.g. responding to discovery, participating in depositions, attending mediation).
• Attorney fees for the agency's attorneys.
• Other agency representation costs (e.g. costs associated with production of documents or purchasing deposition transcripts).
• Settlement amounts.
• Total penalties.
• Attorney fees for the requester’s attorney.
• Costs for the requester’s litigation.

Exhibit G1: Agencies reported 57 court claims were filed against them alleging a statutory violation

Number of court claims alleging a statutory violation (Metric 12)

57 (43%) court claims were filed against state agencies, commission, or boards. The Department of Corrections accounted for 37 (28%) of the total court claims filed. 171 agencies reported no court claims filed against them during the reporting period.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

Exhibit G2: Agencies spent $7.2 million on litigation for court claims alleging a statutory violation

Costs of litigating court claims alleging a statutory violation (Metric 13)

Cities and towns reported the highest litigation costs, at $2,237,679 (31% of statewide total). The Legislature reported lowest litigation costs, at $32,841 (0.46% of statewide total). Cross Valley District reported the highest litigation costs for a single agency, at $827,794. 151 agencies reported that they had no litigation costs.

Source: JLARC staff compilation of data reported by 215 agencies.

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